We were joined in all ways now, the magic between us forging a connection I had never expected. One that my mother had never warned me about. I loved this man. I knew it, even though it seemed impossible, and I had a feeling that he felt the same way about me, too.
And now I'd let him inside me, body and heart, and he was doomed. If my mother knew that we'd lain together, she would surely kill him. I had his seed now; that was all a harpy required.
And that was when I heard the beat of wings.
Brody
"Pants!"Selene pushed against my body, rolling me off her quickly.
"What?" I frowned, pleasure still thrumming through my body. I was utterly spent, just wanted to curl up next to her and fall asleep, but the urgency in her voice cut through that.
"Get dressed," she hissed. "She is here." Selene's eyes were wide with fear, and something else that I couldn't place my finger on. She tossed my pants, and I snatched them from the air, trying to shove my feet into them. Everything about my body was slow though, but now I could hear what Selene obviously had; the heavy beat of wings.
That shot energy through me and I tugged at the fabric, yanking my jeans on so that I was covered should the harpy queen charge into the hollow. Our little sex nest.
Just thinking of it like that made me wish the queen had stayed away. I wanted Selene again already, the feel of her body, the feathers of her wings brushing my back, her claws in my shoulder, and those damn ridges lining the walls of her pussy.
Fuuuck. I was a goner.
In several ways, if the shrill cry from outside was anything to go by.
How could she know what we had done?
Selene was up, trying to twist a blanket around her body to cover herself. The tattered piece of clothing she'd been wearing was basically ribbons on the floor. Still, she looked fiercer than I'd ever seen her before, a gleam in her eye that I'd like to have taken some credit for, but that I thought was probably her very own.
She seemed to stand taller. Whether her wound had completed healing or if it was something else I couldn't be sure, all I knew was that I felt every inch the mere human that I was beside her.
It was like the breaking of the geas had forged her anew and she stood there looking every bit as regal as her mother.
"Stay behind me," she said, ushering me with a wing as she stepped to the fore.
"You don't have to go out there," I said, concerned for her. For me.
For us.
"I do," she said, glancing over her shoulder. Our eyes met, and I thought there were tears in hers, but it was too hard to see in the semidarkness. "Whatever happens, know that I will never regret our time together. And, I'm sorry."
With that, she turned and stepped out from the hollow and into the night. I followed, staying as close to her as I could. It wasn't like I could provide any protection against the harpy queen, but I still felt that urge, that connection.
The geas might have been broken, but it felt as though something new had been forged between us. I would not let her face the wrath of her mother alone.
"I see you have broken the geas." The queen sneered at me, then turned her gaze back to Selene. "And now he is mine."
Selene stepped forward, lifting her wings as a barrier between the queen and I. "You can't have him, mother."
"Oh, but I can. We can't let him go back to the mortal world. Can't have him spilling our secrets."
"He will tell no one, will you Brody?" She glanced back at me, eyes widening to tell me I needed to agree, and fast.
"No, of course not," I said. Though I couldn't imagine leaving her, returning to my life. Not when this thing was between us like strands of rope making me want to be closer to her, even now with her mother right there, perched on a branch above us, poised as though she were ready to swoop down and rip my throat out.
"He won't be able to help himself." Her mother preened, cocking her head and looking at us with delight in her eyes. "The two of you are bonded now. I can sense it. Hell, I can practically see it."
The geas, I realized. Each time part of it was broken, I had felt that connection between us. The magic had swarmed and invaded my body, hers, binding us ever closer.
Would I have wanted her the same if that had not happened? Would I care for her so intensely, without her mother's interference?
I wanted to believe so, but at this point, it didn't matter. I felt how I felt, and I would not deny it.